The present invention relates to fiber waveguides particularly useful for transmitting carbon dioxide laser radiation, or other radiation, e.g., He-Ne laser radiation, in the infrared or visible regions. The invention also relates to a method of making such waveguides
Laser radiation, such as produced by carbon dioxide lasers (wavelength=10.6 .mu.m) is now being extensively used in many fields, including medicine (e.g., a surgical laser), material processing (e.g., cutting and welding equipment), and communication. However, while good fiber waveguides exist for transmitting low amounts of energy particularly in the visible region, there does not presently exist a good waveguide particularly a flexible waveguide, for transmitting relatively high amounts of energy particularly in the infrared region, because of the lack of good transparent materials capable of efficiently transmitting power in this region. This situation has limited the application of carbon dioxide lasers especially in the medical and communication fields.